Batteries are utilized in a wide variety of consumer products. While some batteries are rechargeable, others are disposable. Some of the devices that utilize rechargeable batteries provide an indication to the user regarding the remaining energy level of the battery, e.g. cellular phones, MP3 players, powered toothbrushes, etc. However, there are some devices which utilize rechargeable batteries that do not provide an indication to the consumer regarding the remaining energy level. Similarly, devices that utilize disposable batteries generally provide no indication to the consumer regarding the remaining energy level of the disposable battery. For those devices which provide no indication of remaining energy level to the consumer, typically the only indication of low energy levels remaining in the battery (rechargeable or disposable) is in the form of degraded performance of the device. While the consumer could feasibly remove the batteries and test them in a battery tester, this is inconvenient as each battery would have to be removed from the device and tested and then replaced within the device.
As such, there is a need for a device or devices as well as a methodology for allowing a consumer to check the remaining power levels of disposable and/or rechargeable batteries while the batteries are still within the devices which they operate.